The Art of Diplomacy
by Hellohellomynameisvertigo
Summary: Tsunade decides to remove Hinata from Team 8, and puts her under Kurenai's tutelage to learn the art of diplomacy. A year in a school called Hogwarts? That should be easy.


**A/N: Hello everyone! I have high hopes for this story, and I hope you will all enjoy it. For everyone's information, this will be set during the time skip, and will be a crossover between Naruto and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Disclaimer: Sadly, I own neither of these. If I did I wouldn't be living on instant noodles in a cheap-ass dorm room.**

**Attaché - an official under an Ambassador who acts as a diplomat or a representative of one nation to another. **

**_**

Team 8, punctual as always, was assembled outside the Hokage's office at 7 am years had passed since the invasion by Sound and Sand, and the village was on the path to a speedy recovery. However, it had taken out a lot of their shinobi from the active roster, and consequently, Tsunade was forced to work those remaining to the bone until the newest graduates could be trained properly. Kurenai's team was no exception - they were still genin, but in two years they had barely had two month's worth of rest from work.

Shizune ushered the team in, and shot a glare at the Hokage on her way back to her desk. Obviously this was about how they were all overworked. The kids deserved a break, really, and Tsunade knew that. Kiba was buckling under the strain: she caught the exhaustion behind his normally animated eyes. The bags under Hinata's did nothing for her face, and even Shino's afro was a tad bit droopy.

But they were short on recon teams, and this one was proving to be a real asset. It would be a shame to take them apart. She weighed her words carefully as she put down her reading glasses, and spoke.

"You've done good work, kids. It's time you got a vacation."

Their reactions were instantaneous - Hinata's head shot up, eyes wide; Kiba gave a whoop and started dancing a jig in front of the Hokage, and Shino adjusted his glasses. Oh well, she never did get much of a reaction from that Aburame anyway. Much less the rest of his clan. She cleared her throat and, ignoring the fact that Kiba was now shaking his ass at Akamaru, tried to look as stern as possible.

"Kiba, Shino, I'll be giving you two months off. Use that to rest and to hone your tracking skills. If I see that you've improved, I'll promote you both to chuunin when you get back. Is this clear?"

Kiba froze, jaw dropped. His eyes immediately slid to the right. Hinata's head snapped back down, and he could smell the tears gathering at her eyes from three feet away. Me and Shino, promoted to chuunin? This isn't fair!, he thought - Hinata had worked as hard as he did, if not harder! Vaguely, he saw Shino shift slightly, and was just about to protest when the other boy beat him to it.

"What of Hinata?" he said hotly. The girl just seemed to shrink even further into herself. Kiba panicked when he saw her hands start to shake. He was never great at comforting girls when they cry, and if Hinata did, he would probably just end up making things worse.

Meanwhile, Tsunade was surprised. Sure, she knew that they were probably the most team-oriented of their generation, but it really was remarkable that the boys thought of their teammate first before celebrating their impending promotion. Kurenai had done a wonderful job with these kids.

"Hinata will be assigned to an extended mission with Kurenai. It seems to me that she will do better in a different line of work." The Hokage fished out four sets of paychecks from a stack of papers, and handed it out to the four nin lined up in front of her desk. "This is the bounty from the latest missing nin you took in. As I've said, good work. Kiba, Shino, you are both dismissed. Hinata, stay back, will you? We'll have to go through the details of your mission."

The boys still looked mutinous. Kiba did, anyway; it was slightly more difficult to tell with Shino, but if the buzzing under his coat was anything to go by, he was still pretty agitated. Neither made a move to leave.

"I find this arrangement illogical." Shino finally said.

Blond eyebrows shot up. This boy was arguing with the Hokage's logic? Granted, it was logic under the influence of sake, but still, this was new. "Oh? Why is that?"

The envelope disappeared into Shino's coat, and the boy straightened out his glasses (again) before speaking. "Hinata has improved by leaps and bounds during our time in the field. Her expanding range has been the cause of our recent successful captures, along with Kiba's improving sense of smell and my growing hive. You know as well as I do that our teamwork is the backbone of our achievements in tracking, and removing her from our team will greatly diminish our chances of success."

The girl colored from his praise, but continued to fidget. Their other teammate nodded vigorously. "Umm, what Shino said. Yeah, it makes sense. So why are you taking Hinata-chan away?!" His eyes flashed.

Seeing that Kiba was going to start yelling soon, Kurenai decided to intervene. "We all know that we're short on people, Kiba, so Hokage-sama has to make some changes to ensure that there are people assigned to all the tasks that need to be done. In your class, you boys are the best choices for tracking, and your friend Ino has already been recommended to Interrogation. Hinata here happened to be the best choice at another assignment."

The boy wheeled around, facing his sensei. "So you knew that Hinata-chan was getting re-assigned, and you didn't bother to tell us?!"

Irritated, Kurenai made to shush Kiba, but a small cough from Hinata drew everyone's eyes on her.

"A-ano, Tsunade-sama, which division are you going to relocate me to?"

Hazel eyes flicked to the girl, and she sighed. She still wasn't sure if she was making the right choice, but the times have forced her hands. Besides, Hinata seemed to learn best on the job. "Diplomacy, Hinata. Diplomacy and politics."

Nobody spoke. All three children were thinking the same thing.

Hinata finally looked up, and Tsunade was surprised by the sudden steel in her eyes. "Father requested the reassignment, didn't he?" she said quietly. Akamaru started growling softly, and Kiba's eyes narrowed to slits.

"What the hell, Tsunade-sama! Just because some dumb fuck like Hinata's dad told you that reconnaissance is too dangerous for their precious heiress doesn't mean that Hinata can't take care of herself! She - oww!"

Tsunade leaned back on her chair and watched as Shino snatched the bottle that hit his teammate from the air. An eyebrow was twitching - Kiba could give Naruto a run for his money when it came to volume. The boy glowered at her defiantly. "I won't let you make her do something she doesn't want to!"

"K-kiba-kun." Hinata stepped forward and placed a placating hand on her teammate's shoulder. "I really don't m-mind. If Hokage-sama believes that I will be better suited to this, a-and Kurenai-sensei agrees, then -"

"Besides, I'm not giving her this assignment because that dumb fuck Hiashi told me to." Tsunade said, amused. Heh. Dumb fuck. If Hiashi knew that such coarse language was being used around his daughter regularly he would probably have an aneurysm. "I'm giving it to her because it's a mission that she is the best equipped to deal with in your age group. You do know that a lot of our emissaries to the Rock and Mist have either retired or died, right?"

"Died?" Kiba's jaw hung open again, and Shino's back straightened slightly. "You're not going to send Hinata-chan there, it's too -"

"Shut up, Kiba. Let her finish. And what happened to '_Hinata-chan can take care of herself'_?" Kurenai growled from behind them.

"Anyway, I'm going to need competent replacements. Hinata was the best choice, and before we field her to the more dangerous areas, we're going to have to train her. This is what the mission is for, so get out now. The girls have to talk." Tsunade snapped. Kiba slumped in defeat, and followed his silent teammate out of the office.

"We'll wait for you at our usual training ground." he whispered to Hinata. The girl nodded, and Kiba gave her a wink before he disappeared behind the door.

**A/N: Please leave a review! I'll try to update within the week. : Don't hesitate to PM or review for comments. Criticism is welcome, but please be respectful. Thanks! **

**~Vertigo**


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